This invention relates to a driving cable connection and more particularly to improvements in the connection between a sliding shoe in a guiding rail and a driving cable for moving the shoe.
In the operation of sliding roofs or sliding windows of motor vehicles, the use of a shoe connected to a sliding roof or window glass and slidable in the guiding groove of a support rail, thereby moving the sliding roof or window glass between open and closed positions, and an axially movable cable connected to the shoe and having annular ribs or helical ribs at its periphery are well known. It is a usual practice to provide a driving toothed wheel between two cables, each connected to the shoe so as to drive the two cables in opposite directions in the manner of a rack and pinion drive. The driving wheel is connected to a suitable drive such as a hand crank or an electric motor.
Accurate movement of the sliding roof or window glass is ensured by a rigid connection between the shoe and the driving cable, with the diameter of the connection being limited by the outer diameter of the driving cable, because the cable has to be axially displaced in the guide groove. Therefore, it is a conventional practice to insert a free end of the helical rib or coil of the toothed cable in a hole in the lateral extension of the shoe to be fixed with each other by a suitable stopper. Such conventional connection of the cable and the shoe has the disadvantage that it is difficult to ensure sufficient rigidity of attachment due to the loose fitting of the cable core to the hole of the shoe extension, and the effort required to perform the attachment in assembling the sliding roofs or sliding windows is time-consuming.